


five days of hell

by lesbiangaz



Series: Morganverse [1]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, i lied in the tags originally, this was mostly fluff and had less sexfrences than i anticipated, uhhh road trips and bad music? what do you people want from me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-01-26 09:26:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12554368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbiangaz/pseuds/lesbiangaz
Summary: Shane is confusing. Why Ryan tolerates it, he'll never know.





	1. "Make It Happen"

The car ride today was… interesting.

Shane and Ryan were out driving to a new location (some abandoned school in Northern California that supposedly had some weird student suicide cult), which meant that they would be going on yet another road trip together. They had put on 90’s music, because they always did that, but it was Shane that decided they should blast a really bizarre mix of Melissa Etheridge and Mariah Carey and German Eurodance, because “‘Come To My Window’ was an absolute classic’” and “‘Eurodance was such a… culturally iconic movement”, to which he would dab. Ryan didn’t mean to be totally suspicious (because if he did read even the slightest bit into anything, Shane would deny it), but he couldn’t help but… question the specific songs on this six-and-a-half-hour drive they were taking with each other. And most importantly, why did they all sound so gay?

“Shane…” Ryan said slowly, trying to stop that stupid coy smile he always made during videos (he knew it well, it was plastered all over his hard drive), “why did you make this playlist?”

“I’ve been telling you for the past twenty minutes, Ryan. These are jams!”

Ryan tried to ignore Shane’s arms, flailing all around the front half of the car in the worst white-dad dance moves in the history of Shane Madej.

“Yeah but…” he paused for a second, glancing at Shane before going back to the road, “maybe it’s just me... I don’t know, but, it seems like… you have something you’re trying to tell me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Like, all of these songs are about gay sex.”

“...Ryan, ‘Make It Happen’ is not about gay sex.”

“It could be!”

“I think you’re reading too much into it…”

“I’m not reading too much into it. The last song was called ‘Shut Up And Sleep With Me’. How the hell am I supposed to take that?”

“That could be heterosexual sex.”

“We’re two dudes, alone in a car, going off to yet another terrible, nightmare-inducing location to spend the night together–”

“It’s called a sleepover. And we do it every week, so.”

Shane raised his eyebrows and mouthed something which kind of made Ryan want to crash their car into a tree. Too bad he couldn’t fucking see any.

“Don’t even try to say something about me,” Ryan said. “You’re the one playing Mariah Carey.”

“I didn’t say anything about you.”

“Really? Are you sure you didn’t just repeat what the rest of the office thinks? You know, ‘Shane and Ryan are in love’, ‘they use half our budget to go on dates’, 'remember when people cared about other Buzzfeed employees'-"

“I don’t think anybody has actually said that? Did you just imagine that?”

“Well like, I haven’t heard it, but,” _that’s probably what they’re thinking, because that’s what I think, sometimes,_ was what Ryan wanted to add but didn’t.

They both went quiet, the soft crooning of Mariah Carey’s “Emotions” the only sound left in the car.

“This song makes me think of you, actually,” Shane said.

And that's when Ryan swerved off the road.


	2. "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really busy on Mondays, but I really appreciate you guys for reading this so... here's a short chapter. Thank you.

Ryan spent the rest of the car ride defending the DMV for legally giving him a license.

“I’m never letting you drive again,” said Shane, who knew full well that in the future he was never going to drive any more than he absolutely had to.

Ryan, who had been demoted to passenger’s seat and also the lovable role of Repeating What Google Maps Said, continued to bitch and moan. “That’s so cruel, Shane, it was one time. One _fucking_ time over like, three seasons of driving places.”

“Three seasons of your horrible turning… I’ve finally had enough.”

So he had swerved off the road. Big deal. They didn’t even really hit anything except a stupid road sign (“a full 270! Wow!” Shane had mocked him). And it was only the front-right headlight that was destroyed (and only a little of the side), so Shane should shut the fuck up.

“You deliberately hit my side of the car,” Shane continued, “I could have died.”

“Yeah, real shame that would be.”

"Definitely a shame. Who else would you film Buzzfeed Unsolved with?”

“I dunno, Quinta did a pretty good job filling in for you,” Ryan said, mouthing, _on the trip you were a dick for taking_. Shane couldn't make out exactly what he was trying to say, but he knew Ryan was still pissed about that vacation. And somewhere in the deep tangles of The Mind of Shane Madej, he actually cared that Ryan was mad about this and trying to make him jealous.

“Right…” Shane said, “when you didn’t even look at the camera.”

“Um, sorry I want to make eye contact with our beautiful audience who makes us money?”

“Sure, Ryan, you're staring at the camera _for the audience_. You haven’t done that since…” His voice trailed off.

Confused, Ryan’s voice softened. “Since?”

“I don’t know. It’s just weird to see you look at the camera.” A pause. “That’s all.”

Shane scratched the back of his neck and turned his full attention back to the road.

“By the way, Ryan, don’t change the song.”

“Seriously?! You’re supposed to be driving you–”

“To be fair, I figured I’d be in charge of music the entire night, but then you crashed into the speed limit sign–”

“We’re alone! It doesn’t fucking matter!”

“Tell that to the car.”


	3. "My Heart Beats Like A Drum"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I have... no idea what I'm doing, but I spent about 2 days on this chapter... I wanted it to be really good for you guys! Happy late Halloween, btw.

“Founded in 1932, Morgan High was a small high school in the suburbs of Northern California, but it was suddenly closed in the 90’s, due to local accusations of ‘ritual sacrifice’ of blonde girls,” Ryan said, reading off a copy of this episode’s script on his phone, “holy shit. That’s still so… holy shit. I can’t believe we’re here.”

The road trip had (fortunately) ended, but now Ryan had to deal with their overnight destination, which more than freaked him out to think about, even without the is-Shane-Madej-into-me factor. Even when you compared this to everywhere else they filmed, Ryan figured there had to be some weird energies at this place, something emanating off the moss-encrusted bricks and the broken windows that was just pure evil. Like, wouldn’t it have to be for teenagers to kill each other? They didn’t even cover this shit in true crime (yet, though who knows when there’d be a good, unsolved teenage murder).

“I don’t know,” said Shane, a mind reader, “I think we all did… some pretty weird stuff in high school. It’s not that surprising to me.”

“Kids went missing, Shane. This isn’t the same thing as your Hot Topic emo phase.”

“I’d say it’s It’s pretty similar. Though I don’t get… why blonde girls?”

“Apparently the leader had a crush on a blonde girl, so they just sacrificed all the other ones.”

“...For love?”

“...They were high schoolers, but yeah. In a way.”

“That’s some… serious dedication.”

The stone steps to the metal front doors were covered in twigs and paper scraps and granola bar wrappers. The doors squeaked as Shane pushed one open and held it there for Ryan. 

“Oh, well, there’s–there’s a pentagram in the middle of the floor,” Ryan said and panned his camera down. He wasn’t quite sure if they were going to capture it, but there was definitely blood on it (just some small drops, really, but the severed fingertips didn’t help anything). 

“They decorated,” Shane said. 

“Shut up, Shane.” 

Ryan tapped his shoe to a pentagram line, which some bizarre Shane-Madej-voice in his head told him to do. A shock coursed through his body (“Jesus Christ”, he muttered), and something flashed through his mind that made him… feel different. Uncomfortable. Nervous.

“It kind of weirds me out to think like, all of this happened in the 90’s, and all we heard in the car was 90’s music,” Ryan said, “Do you think that’s what those kids listened to while they–you know, they–”

Ryan slid his index finger across his throat and winced.  _ Don’t look at Shane,  _ he thought, but he didn’t get why. 

“I mean, I dunno, it’s possible…” Shane said. “I was thinking more of, like, organ music?”

“Like in a church?”

“No like… Phantom of the Opera.”

“...I thought you went to high school in the 90’s.”

“Um, middle school, but thanks.”

“Still. What kind of kid would listen to organ music?”

“Uhh, the kind of kid that would sacrifice blond girls, I guess.”

“Point taken.”

“...Did you not like the music or something?”

“No, no, I lo–it was good, Shane, like really weird but very... you, and uh, with very good lyrics.”

“I think so too.”

“Yeah, it kind of put me in a weird mood though.”

Holy shit. Why did Ryan say that?  _ Why the  _ fuck _ did he say that?  _ He never said stupid shit like that--at least, stupid shit that was so forward and direct, not that that was but… what he was  _ thinking _ , now… this school really did have powers.

“...What kind of a weird mood?” Shane asked him.

“Like kind of a romantic one.”

Ryan still had no idea what the fuck he was saying, and not only that, he could feel his insides burning like he had swallowed kerosene and perhaps he should not think about using words like swallow and his heart was beating kind of fast, like way too fast, maybe emergency room fast? And it was going off so loud it rang in his ears, a deep, almost continuous hum--

“That’s uh, wow I... “ Shane was flustered, “good. I mean, some of those were romantic songs, so… that makes sense, I don’t mean, good… well, it is good, but…”

Ryan, unable to wipe the grin off his face, stepped closer to him, until he could feel Shane’s breath on his face. Like coffee and fruit snacks and microwave popcorn. Shane, with half-lidded eyes, tilted his head to the side. 

For some reason, Shane looked blonde.

Suddenly, Ryan’s eyes widened, and shot down. Shane and him were right in the middle of the pentagram.

“...Shane…”

“Yeah?”

“...I think we should move.”

“Why? Oh,” Shane said, “Yeah, I don’t believe in that stuff, but--”

“Probably should get off, you know...”

“Just in case.”

Something on the floor squished loudly. 

“...I think I stepped on a finger,” Shane said, checking the underside of his shoe, “...yep.”

“...Jesus Christ.”


	4. "Melt Away"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys, I couldn’t write yesterday… I had an important deadline to meet and a presentation to make… turns out… it was next week... but today is Friday so!! Happy Friday, here you go :)

Around two in the morning, about four-ish hours since arriving at Morgan High, Ryan found himself, surprisingly, relaxed. Way too relaxed, considering all the creepy shit that had happened here (not to mention that pentagram thing earlier? What the _ hell  _ was that about, anyway?), but he just figured things were different when they were tired. Very different, because for once, Shane had stopped pissing him off. No yelling at ghosts, no stepping on the pentagram, no locking him in rooms… nothing. Shane just sat on his sleeping bag, one arm wrapped around Ryan (who was definitely not using him as a pillow) and lightly stroking his hair. Shane had also split his earbuds between them, one in Ryan’s left ear (the ear that wasn’t pressed against Shane’s chest) and one in Shane’s right, even if the wire was more obnoxious that way. 

Another weird thing, Ryan didn’t know if it was Shane or snuggling Shane or Shane’s hands on his hair or the soothing synthpop that magically made his eyelids drowsy or Shane, snuggling him (did he mention that he and Shane were snuggling? Was that a thing he remembered to talk about? Because it was happening), but this was probably the nicest he had ever felt on an away trip. Most of the time, he’d be too scared to fall asleep. Now, he had to fight himself from drifting off and losing whatever this was. This just felt so… right.

Shane whispered something that Ryan couldn’t make out. 

“Huh? Shane?” Ryan said mid-yawn, “what was that?”

“Nothing, Ryan, go back to bed.”

“I wasn’t asleep.”

“You were at one point,” Shane said, “And you talked.”

“I do not talk in my sleep.”

“First time for everything. Anyways, it was mostly unintelligible garbage… you sounded like the EVP a lot... but, uh, I think you asked me a question, somewhere in there.”

“Hmm? Was was it?”

“Uhhh… you know, um--”

“Shane? What did I say?” 

Ryan didn’t really have the energy to interrogate, literally, he found his voice trailing off with every sentence, but it was definitely important. Something Shane would never, ever talk about in the morning. 

“You asked me if I was into you,” Shane said, “I think you also said something about ‘signs’ and ‘playlists’ and ‘Quinta said so’ but… I don’t really know if you were in your right mind, so.”

“...So what did you answer?”

“...Ryan,” Shane smiled softly, “you know I gotta be like… cool and mysterious about these things.”

“It’s the middle of the night, I don’t want ‘cool and mysterious’.”

Shane stopped stroking Ryan’s hair. He paused, then his hand slowly moved down Ryan’s head until it reached his cheek, his thumb tracing the corner of his lips. Ryan was tired (seriously this close to passing out and sleeping on Shane until tomorrow’s rude awakening), but he looked up at Shane, still smiling softly, giving him this stare that was so… caring. Ryan could barely describe it. Part of him was concerned he was fever dreaming.

“I said you’re sometimes right about things,” Shane said, “now please go back to bed.”

“Why?”

“Because if I keep playing my jams, then you’re not going to be able to sleep in the car.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i felt very..... soft make out music tonight.... perhaps it is because i am also tired?


	5. "Fantasy"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was supposed to update this Friday but… I had a… bad time, to say the least, so here! Happy Sunday I guess.

Ryan was on top of Shane.

He wasn’t sure how he got there at all, actually. Last he checked… okay, he was on top of Shane, but he was definitely  _ not _ in Shane’s sleeping bag.

Ryan was in pajama bottoms and a striped black-and-white shirt, and out of the corner of his eyes, he could see the rest of his outfit. His denim jacket had been thrown on the ground in a crumpled heap, and he was pretty sure he felt yesterday’s jeans at his feet, inside of Shane’s sleeping bag? How the hell did that happen? More importantly, why was he in Shane’s sleeping bag, his face one-and-a-half inches from his lips–

“Oh,” Shane said “you’re up.” He paused for a second, his eyes drifting down and then up way too casually. He was probably still asleep, that’s why none of this seemed to be registering. “Hm, why are you?...”

“I dunno,” Ryan said. “Did you?...”

“No… I thought we fell asleep on the wall.”

“So did I.”

Shane’s feet shuffled underneath him. “Are those… jeans?”

“Yeah,” Ryan said. Shane still had his jeans on, which he could tell, considering both of their legs were pressed against each other. For some reason, all he could think about was high school physics class: ‘uncomfortable friction’. 

“I thought you put those–”

“I did.”

“Weird.”

This reminded Ryan of something else, he thought. A couple of times, in the Sallie house or in hotel rooms, they had cuddled. Without even thinking about it, really, he would just wake up and think,  _ well, those are my legs around Shane, huh?  _ But never had he crawled into Shane’s sleeping bag, nor had Shane ever had his hands this close to his hips.

“You sure are warm, Ryan,” Shane said, “Like a miniature fever.”

“Shut up, Shane.”

“You’re  _ hot _ .”

This close to Shane, Ryan didn’t want to let that get to his head. Or anywhere else for that matter.

“Should I get off of you?” he asked.

“You don’t have to,” Shane said.

“Do you want me to?”

“Not really,” Shane said softly.

“What was that?” Ryan teased, breaking into a grin.

“I said not really. Not really… just...”

“Yeah.”

Ryan found himself drifting back off to sleep, once again using Shane’s chest as a pillow. But right as he was about to go back to dreaming about things that definitely didn’t involve Shane Madej, something flashed in his mind. Something so quick, he wasn’t even sure it was real. A singular phrase, written in blood red letters:

_ “Looks like you both got your wish, huh? With love, the cults.” _

His eyes were wide open for the next two hours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you guys for reading this. Thank you so much for all the support. I hope to be posting more things soon!!! Love, lesbiangaz


End file.
